


the bitter pill, swallowed

by AwayLaughing



Series: the unseen [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Bad Parenting, Character Study, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Implied Relationships, Pregnancy, The Hyuuga Clan is a Tragedy, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-25 07:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7523842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwayLaughing/pseuds/AwayLaughing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyūga Tsukimi was 15 and a half when her family was killed. </p>
<p>{a character study of the woman who raised twins to be strangers and to whom canon gave no presence}</p>
            </blockquote>





	the bitter pill, swallowed

Hyūga Tsukimi was 15 and a half when her family was killed. Her mother and father and brother's and brothers' wives all killed as traitors, her brothers' children sealed and sent off to the few clan lands outside of Konoha to live the rest of their lives as menial labourers. Her sister, spared only because she was away in service to the lady Taketori, was told never to return home. Tsukimi alone was spared all fates, and she married their murderer's son six months later, two days after her sixteenth birthday.

 

That was in the past, however. There was a new branch to the main family, elevated for years of faithful service and placed in charge of sealing those who were once their equals in insignificance. Tsukimi did not think of these things, however. She did not think of little Hyūga Koumei, first of the line of Hyūga Kagen to go without a seal since they were implemented. She did not think of her kind nephews living a life of toil, of her beautiful nieces broken down to nothing. Of her sister living ever day in threat of dismissal and sealing.

 

She did not think of how much like a branch member she was, powerless and immaterial.

 

Idly, she rubbed the growing mound of her stomach, reflecting on the days news. Twins. Somehow it did not surprise her. Twins were uncommon in the Hyūga, and her husband had not appreciated the news. Immediately he had set out in search of precedent – were they to both be unsealed, or only the eldest? Hidane-sama had calmly informed her it was the latter.

 

No, not calmly. Sadly.

 

Tsukimi could not afford to be sad, however. She did not have Hidane-sama's luxury of sentimentality. His lungs were degrading so fast that, like as not, he would be died by the time his grandchildren came into this world. In the face of certain death, worldly concerns vanished. His son lead the clan now, and so he answered largely to no one.

 

Tsukimi did not plan on dying any time soon, however. Tsukimi's family may have all died four years ago, but she would be damned before she would follow them. While it was true that anything could happen, especially when dealing with the birth of children, she considered herself a survivor. When Hidane-sama wiped her family from the map, she had remained upon it. When Henshou raged, she stood tall. This would be no different. There was no other option. She would not be brought low by this. She would not allow her body to break under the strain of doing her duty in providing an heir. She would not allow her spirit to falter and grow attached, to render her vulnerable once again.

 

She would not allow it.

 

She would not watch with any emotion as they were forced apart. She would do her duty to her eldest, teach them to be the heir the clan needed. Strong and unwavering and devoted. She would teach the younger to do his own duty, to protect and serve and never resent. She would not love them, though. She would not let any trickle of emotion reach into her heart or drive knives into it.

 

There would be no fond memories of two identical little boys separated by something as meaningless as a few minutes or hours. She would not watch them be torn apart, because they would be that way from the moment they were born. There would be no bed time stories, no motherly wisdom and comfort. She wouldn't shelter them because then she would have to take it away.

 

She comforted herself with the knowledge that this promise was not cruelty, but she knew also that it wasn't kindness. It was nothing so high minded or intellectual as either of those things.

 

It was survival.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I always wondered how there could be so many main members of the family as there were, so this hints at my answer - there are sort of branches within the main family aka Head branch, the nakodo's branch since you don't want any bad blood between the person pairing your kid up, and the branch of the family that does the sealing, which I guess is like a reward for being an asshole to your less lucky family members.
> 
> Tsukimi herself is a character I've mentioned once or twice - Hiashi and Hizashi both think poorly of her in 'The Bad Cell' and 'emptier worlds still' where she's known as mother. I was getting tired of having to kill off mother characters to accommodate Hyuuga kids trauma, but nothing about Hiashi and Hizashi's storylines imply their mother was any kinder than their a-hole dad.


End file.
